David Wilkes, Hannah Tolley, Katie Brown, Matthew
Morgan
See how they run
The Nonentities
The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster
***
Did you hear the one about the four
Vicars, a cleric, the actress and the German soldier? If you haven’t
then maybe you should run along and see the Nonentities production of
Philip King's wartime classic, See how they run.
After all there is something quintessentially
English about farce and what could be more quintessential than the
mistaken comings and goings at the Vicarage in a sleepy English Village
during the Second World War.
Written in 1945, its opening night in London was
punctuated with the dropping of real bombs, but they and nothing else
seem to have managed to keep it off the stage in one form or another
since then.
Its form has clearly been the early inspiration
for many a situational religious comedy like The Vicar of Dibley
and Father Ted. There are shades of ‘Allo ‘Allo and
Dad's Army all entwined into the madcap and insanely
implausible plot.
There are nods aplenty to the innuendo gags of
the music hall. "I'm having a little trouble with my inner tube" seems a
fairly innocent phrase but here coming from the local Church spinster,
it has the tones of something more suggestive in this well written
farce.
It’s impossible to fully outline the plot and the
play even ends with the main characters speaking over each other in a
crazed attempt to explain to the other inhabitants of the Vicarage, the
precise actions of their previous 24 hours.
Suffice to say the Rev Lionel Toop has secured
himself the young, slightly unconventional actress, Penelope as a wife.
There’s the local busy body Miss Skillon who clearly disapproves of her
but then on the eve of a visit from Penelope’s Uncle, who just happens
to be a Bishop, an old actor chum, Clive turns up.
Martin Salter and Katie Brown
Suffice to say the Rev Lionel Toop has secured
himself the young, slightly unconventional actress, Penelope as a wife.
There’s the local busy body Miss Skillon who clearly disapproves of her
but then on the eve of a visit from Penelope’s Uncle, who just happens
to be a Bishop, an old actor chum, Clive turns up.
While her husband is out Penelope and Clive
decide to go out for an evening with him disguised as a Vicar to stop
the local rumours. Meanwhile we hear a German prisoner of war has
escaped from the local internment camp and somehow Miss Skillon finds
her way into the vicarage and manages to get drunk on the cooking
sherry. When the Bishop arrives that night a day early, he enters full
on into the chaos of it all.
The play is a real ensemble piece and the company
has battled on thru covid restrictions, cancellations, cast illnesses
and even the limitations of Zoom rehearsals to deliver a very
entertaining version of this classic. David Wilkes even stepped up with
just 3 weeks’ notice into the role of the Bishop of Lax.
Penelope Toop was played by the very accomplished
Hannah Tolley with her principal opposite Martin Slater as her friend,
the actor turned soldier Clive. Both revelled in keeping the action
fresh and the timing tight.
The stiff necked role of spinster Miss Skillon
fell to Katy Ball and she spent a fair amount of time, either in the
broom cupboard or comically in a state of inebriation. Katie Brown was
Ida the maid, seemingly oblivious to the goings on, but instrumental in
the mounting confusion.
Tony Newbold played the straight laced Rev Lionel
Toop and after some early exchanges spent a fair amount of time
encircling the stage in his underwear. There was great support too from
Matt Morgan as the Stranger, Dan Taylor as yet another Reverend, the
Reverend Humphrey and Michael Thompson as the blundering and forceful
Sergeant Towers.
See how they run won’t have you rolling with
laughter as it’s far too polite and preposterous to surprise you with
anything you have never seen before. But it’s a fun packed evening and a
true glimpse of a time when the most outrageous act of indecency was a
few too many sherries and a woman wearing trousers out in public. Oh,
how times have changed.
Running to 26-02-22
Jeff Grant
22-02-22
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